People and Business: Fat Controller steams ahead

SIR ALASTAIR MORTON will be paid pounds 130,000 a year for working a two-and-a-half day week in his new job as Fat Controller of Britain's railways.

The job of chairman of the British Railways Board, and prospective chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, was originally advertised last November at pounds 120,000, "but more may be available for exceptional candidates," the ad said.

Nice to see Sir Alastair hasn't lost his negotiating touch. This is, after all, the man who, as co-chairman and group chief executive of Eurotunnel, managed to get the hole dug and keep the banks in line.